Attempts to engage pupils in lessons might be reducing need to "listen"

[Caroline]

As a teacher who has been thinking about how to develop listening
skills in my classroom, it has struck me that often we are so
desperately trying to make concepts accessible and activities engaging
in the classroom that this might sometimes be the expense of the
conscious listening that Julian has described. For example, teachers
feel the need to manage reduced attention spans and students
preferences for visual stimuli with physical activities, visual props
and videos. But perhaps what we need to do is give students
opportunities to see (or hear!) the value in auditory stimuli - apart
from when listening to music. I often like to play just the audio of a
video clip in a lesson or use radio broadcasts (as a Psychology
teacher I find Radio 4's Mind Changers useful) and ask students to
draw on this source of knowledge. I do, however, notice that I have to
make interested faces at them to help them process what they are
hearing (e.g. a quizzical look if a controversial statement is made, a
smile at a joke etc) otherwise they seem to tune out without a visual
aid on screen. I think more frequent activity of this type might help
but wondered if anyone else has any thoughts on how to help students
stay tuned in.